Mount St. Helens - Worm Flows Route — Saturday, Apr. 25, 2015

South Cascades > Mount St. Helens

Boy did we luck out on the weather! This weekend's forecast for sure had us thinking rain, but other than some fog it was gorgeous. We left the Sno Park around 9:30. There had been some new snowfall Friday night so there was some snow below the tree line, gradually getting deeper on the way up. We were able to scramble hand-over-foot up the boulder field without any special equipment. Once we reached the snowfield everyone put on YakTrax (crampons were not needed). Tough tough slog to the summit, but so worth it. It had been pretty cloudy on the way up. At one point it was so thick we couldn't see the summit anymore. Once we got there we waited about 20 minutes and then the clouds broke and you could see everything! We didn't bring the equipment for glissading so the descent was pretty hard on the knees. We were able to follow the boulder field down while staying on the snow until about halfway through. 9.5 hour total trip up & down. Very challenging hike, but a good first mountain for someone looking into some serious climbing. It was so much fun!